Press Release – AMENDED VERSION: Wide Area Augmentation System Signal Now Available

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON, DC — After a successful 21-day stability test of the
Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) signal in space, the
U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) declared that it is now available for some
aviation and all non-aviation uses. The test demonstrated required
system stability allowing immediate use of the WAAS signal by a
broad range of users.

WAAS augments the Global Positioning System (GPS) by
improving the GPS position signal. The test demonstrated that the
system can operate without interruption, providing a stable and
reliable signal to augment GPS. The system demonstrated one to
two meters horizontal accuracy and two to three meters vertical
accuracy throughout the contiguous United States. Raytheon will
operate the system for the FAA on a continuous basis,
interrupting it only as necessary to upgrade or test the system.
To provide users with information on these outages, the WAAS
broadcast schedule is available at
gps.faa.gov/Programs/NSTB/Provisions/sis.htm or
www.raytheontands.com/waas.

The current WAAS signal is available to aviation users for
increasing situational awareness during flight under visual flight
rules (VFR) and on the airport surface, among other uses. For
non-aviation users, the signal supports a variety of applications in
recreation, boating, agriculture and surveying.

WAAS continues to be developed to provide the necessary
integrity for the WAAS-required, safety-critical applications. Until
the system design is completed and initial operational capability is
declared, the WAAS is not an approved source of aircraft
navigation under instrument flight rules (IFR).